Re:Craftsman, Devil or a protector
"Talking"
'Thinking'
Spell incantation
{Telepathic speaking}
《"Erebus physically speaking"》
《{Erebus telepathic speaking}》
《'Erebus thinking'》
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"Correct Betty if she's got something wrong." Beatrice said after she drank the tea I had prepared for her.
"Of course." Subaru answered while dropping some poisonous leaves into a cauldron before stirring in an even motion.
"Subaru... and Erebus are from another world." She said, still not used to the fact that her contractor wasn't one person but infact two in the same body.
"Yup." While Subaru was stirring at one cauldron, two pitch-black shadow-hands were busy with another cauldron, carefully adding an explosive fluid into the mix.
"Erebus is a conscious born from a reaction between your soul and the witch factor."
"Well that is what we originally believed before finding out that the factor is from outer space," Subaru stop the stirring, left the cauldron before walking to another one, which had been left to take care of itself for a while. "which in itself opens up a whole other can of worms which we don't have the alcohol for." Subaru said, as Erebus, who had also left his cauldron for another one, dropped the spoon as his existential bewilderment returned at full force. This forced Subaru to finish the potions he was responsible for.
Subaru, Erebus, and Beatrice were inside of the portable workshop Zelretch had prepared for us, Beatrice sitting by the kitchen table while Subaru and Erebus was in the kitchen brewing potions all while talking to each other. Subaru had just explained(read: dumped) the majority of their story onto her from the disaster, Shirou saving them as kids, Shirou and Rin adopting them, learning magecraft from both of them, their time at the Mages organisation, Ai's birth and her personality and the Holy Grail War. Of course, Subaru also explained how they got to Od Laguna...
"Still, I can't believe that the Witch of Envy... no Satella is the reason you are in this world." Beatrice said, feeling conflicted about the truth. For 4 centuries, the Witch of Envy has been viewed as an inhuman monster of pure evil and destruction, even by Beatrice, due to her reading about it. Learning that not only is Satella incompatible with the envy witch factor, which is a big reason why she did what she did, but also that she is in love with her contractor(s). That last fact just opens up a whole other can of worms.
'Betty's contractors.' She thought with bliss. She still couldn't believe that her 400 years of suffering had finally ended and 'that person' had finally set her free. Her heart still aches from the fact that the suffering she had endured was caused by both herself and her mother. Her lack of understanding of the functionality of the book of wisdom caused her to not learn the answer to Mother's order. Of course, her incompetent mother is also to blame. If she had just been a little bit clearer, then her suffering could have been avoided. But then again, she might not have met her current contractors. She had only interacted with one of her contractors, but from what she could gather was that Subaru is hard working, knowledgeable, perceptive, and helpful. Erebus, based on what Subaru have told her, is near similar to Subaru's own due to them sharing everything from emotions, memories(if the conditions meet), etc. But they also have their differences, due to both of them coming to different conclusions on what they witness.
"Beatrice, can you hear us?" Subaru's question snapped her out of her thoughts.
"Betty was thinking, can Subaru repeat that."
"We don't have the entire picture, so all I can tell you is that she is confusing me with Natsuki Subaru." Subaru said before his silver eyes changed into inhuman crimson.
《"Now on the subject of Satella, how did she even locate us specific?"》 Erebus questioned. 《"Did she take one look on our appearance and just go "that's my tall and handsome man"?"》 Erebus jokingly theorised.
{It is possible. She isn't exactly in a sane mindset right about now.} Subaru said, acknowledging that the theory had some sense to it. Well as much sense you can have when it involves a insane witch.
Erebus then realised something. He turned to Beatrice. 《"I'm Erebus. Nice to meet you."》 He greeted with a nod.
"Oh, Betty is Betty." Beatrice introduced herself after realising that she also forgot to greet her second contractor. Actually, now that she thought about it. Doesn't she technically have three contractors? Pushing that question to the side, she analysed the living proof of the impossible. A conscious represents a witch factor.
"So it is true then..." Beatrice stared at Erebus with fascination. "A witch factor developed a conscious."
《"Yes an... alien factor."》 Erebus responded with a lack of life in his voice, which caused Beatrice to sweat drop.
{We get it, you are not fine with the discovery of the sin factor's origin. You can cope after we leave the mansion. Oh, just to let you know, I will be in our internal world creating a spell for us.} Subaru said exasperated, having already grown annoyed of Erebus attitude. Erebus sighed and nodded in acknowledgement.
《"Both me, Subaru, and you are going to leave the mansion. It isn't safe for us, and by us, I mean me and Subaru to be here."》
"Betty understand why you- both of you wouldn't feel safe with Puckie around and maybe the clown." One of her eyebrows rose as curiosity sparked in her eyes. "But the maids and the half-elf? From what Subaru has told Betty about your capabilities, Betty can not see how you would fear the maids and the half-elf."
《"Let me correct you, Beatrice. We don't fear anyone."》 Erebus began.《"The maids will not be a problem, I have already prepared all tools needed to neutralise them. However, I plan to use them as... test dummies for some spells later this evening. Neither I nor Subaru want you anywhere near us when the maids and us fight."》 Beatrice was about to protest, but Erebus quickly silent her. The kind older brotherly air around him was replaced by a cold but commanding one. 《"This is not a request, Beatrice. This is an order, and orders are followed without questions, and if you want to question our authority, then you will have to earn the right to do so."》 Erebus walked away from the cauldron and towards Beatrice. His eyes narrowed firmly at Beatrice. Beatrice instinctively gulped and froze as Erebus slowly approached her tiny frame. He stared down at her with firm, truthful but cold eyes and continued speaking.《"While we will treat you as a family member, you are still our contact spirit. Both me and Subaru will not tolerate disobedience from our subjects. Is that clear?"》 Beatrice flinched at the cold tone.
"Yes, Sir!" She quickly responded while instinctively getting on one knee, bowing.
《"Good,"》 Erebus nodded his head in approval before getting on one knee. He started to pat Beatrice head. Which caused her to look up at him. He gave a small smile.《"I look forward to getting to know you and watching you grow Beatrice. Both of us do. As my subject, as my sister, my comrade-in-arms and as my loyal friend."》
Beatrice eyes widen. It was at that moment she realised something about Subaru and Erebus. Both of them have this... air around them. It feels commanding, firm, and dangerous but also calm. Yet somehow, it also felt majestic. Like you wanted to try and meet their expectations, to do better in their presence. To be worthy of walking beside them. They feel like a leader.
《"Now let's continue where we left of shall we?"》 Beatrice broke out of her thoughts and started to pay attention to Erebus again. 《"That puppet might become a problem. Her magic circuits are not only high quality but also high in quantity. If I were to give her a value, it would be near 100, which puts her at the same power as a Caster servant..."》Erebus began in full detail to explain the preparation and strategy that he had made to Beatrice while she sat and listened intently.
~~~
Subaru was within their internal world, creating an Od Lagunan magic spell and, to be more specific, a wind spell. Normally, creating a new spell would be the last thing someone would think of doing during a situation as this. However, unlike normal magi, he had access to a reality marble that is tied to time magecraft. Using that function, he can speed up the passing of time, allowing him to be here for weeks while it would have only passed a few hours in the real world. He literally had all the time in the world... or is it his world? Anyway, he flexed his energy, and the world's time started to move faster. Then, he started to build the calculations and the correct image for the spell.
~~~
In the real world, Erebus continued his explanation.
《"... The puppet could become very dangerous if she decides to stop holding back, but thankfully, I can only see three reasons for her to do that. We can ignore the first reason due to the conditions having already passed. The second reason could only trigger if we were to hurt or kill the innocent, which would force her to painfully ignore her personal feelings and go on the offensive. Lastly... we plain and simply kill the rat. Watching her "father" die before her would put her in an inraged state that desires nothing more than to see us die."》 Erebus paused his explanation so that Beatrice could process the information. When she had finished she asked a question.
"What was the first reason she could have to use all of her power, I wonder?" Beatrice asked, curious. Her question surprised Erebus for a moment due to him believing that she would have asked him if they could avoid killing Puck. It made Erebus inwardly smile at the thought of Beatrice having steel in her. Steel is powerful enough to ignore one's family connections and remain professional. Something he himself doesn't have...
《'Maybe there is more to her than I thought.'》 With this thought, he answered her. 《"The first reason would be that she has no personal connection to her enemy, thus making her more open for the idea of fighting at full power. But due to us already starting to get and know her, and being the only person beside the rat that doesn't jump to conclusions regarding her appearance, she is more unwilling to fight at full power."》 Erebus responded to her.
"I see... what about Roswaal, I wonder?" Erebus grimaced
《"Roswaal is someone we might be able to defeat. From what I can gather from PRIDE's memories, the current Roswaal Mathers has equal power to that of a great spirit such as yourself and the rat in terms of magical capabilities. He also knows some shinobi martial arts style. Both me and Subaru are both very skilled in both martial arts and weapon arts. I am confident that if we were to fight him in close range, we would most likely win. I say most likely due to not knowing his full mastery of the shinobi arts. Now for the problem. Roswaal is a mage from the age of gods,"》 《'Well, the age of witches.'》 He inwardly correct himself. 《"with 4 centuries of experience, access to all the elements, which most likely also means that he has many powerful, forgotten and forbidden spells up his sleeve, and worst of all, he is human. This means that my Anti-spirit magecraft will not be of any help. While my Anti-magic magecraft can be useful against him, it will not be very effective when he can literally use ten-line spells as a one-line spell, CONTINUOUSLY I might add."》 Erebus paused to take a breather before ending it with a deadpan and heartfelt complaint. 《"You magi from this age need to learn how to be normal and not crazy."》
Beatrice sweat dropped at his expression.
~~~
Back with the spell creation, Subaru was at hard work. The knowledge of their low affinity for wind and the result power that Fura had, he decided to go for an more battle control type of spell. It, at its first stage, would not be able to perform any real damage to anything, but in conjunction with both magical and natural elements, it could become quite the hefty thing.
"Here we go..." He took a breath, held out his hand, and then spoke. "...Voluptas."
His body became surrounded by mana, not the normal kind that he was used to but Od Lagunan kind. Mana in this world isn't just neutral energy from the planet. It can have elemental alignments with one of the six elements of this world, and in this case, it was wind mana. The amount of wind mana gathered wasn't that huge, which was surprising. His and Erebus's internal world should produce and generate an infinite supply ether for them to use wherever needed, but for it to not even be used is shocking. Is the difference between this world mana and his own that huge that it is unable to merge with Od Lagunan thaumaturgy? It could just be that this world's mana was the equivalent of true ether, which is incompatible with ether, due to ether only existing in the age of man. However, he quickly disregarded that theory because if it were true, then he would have been dead because mana from the age of gods acts as poison to a Magus from the age of man. But this thought brought forth a revelation that maybe they weren't in the age of gods but the age of mystery or some equivalent of it.
'This needs to be researched later.' Pushing that question to the side for a moment, Subaru focused on ending the spell. He gathered the wind mana to the centre of his palm before releasing it. The spell's result wasn't anything special. It wasn't torrent of wind capable of blowing up a large part of a house. Nor was it a powerful tornado that could become a threat to a small town. It was just a gust of wind, a gust that could only carry or interfere with small dust cloud and water particles. Most like also capable of empowering fire spells. But in his eyes, it was amazing. Ever since he was a kid, he has had a hard time using wind magecraft without relying on the magic crest. In many and most cases, it resulted with him not being able to cast a single spell. But now, in this world, he could not only use one wind spell but also TWO, one which he just created. It brought both joy and bitterness to seeing the results. Joy over finally succeeding. Bitterness over the fact that if he hadn't been kidnapped to this world, he would have never been able to do this.
"What am I thinking." He shaked his head. A smirk made its way onto his lips. "Letting myself feel bitter at such achievement. I am now one more step closer to a master magus."
Feeling his spirit risen, he began practising all the other Od Laguna spells that he had learned(minus the earth spell that Erebus created due to him not knowing how to use it yet). He combining them, testing their capabilities against each other and against magecraft. He even managed to upgrade Goa and Huma to El level. He also noticed that when combining wind mana with yang mana, electricity was produced. This gave him many ideas on new spells to create, and the question of combining the other elements with each other would result in other "sub" elements.
He snapped himself out of his thoughts before getting to deep speculating on magical theories. He decided to go and share what he had done to Erebus and Beatrice.
~~~
"What about those curses that Subaru spoke of. Wouldn't they be useful against Roswaal, I wonder?" Beatrice asked Erebus.
《"Oh yes, they definitely would be useful. Modern Magecraft is built on curses. I can most definitely bring out something stronger than what Roswaal can produce. But there is a slight problem. Curses can be both quite... malicious and hard to work with. Depending on what type of curse you want to cast, the consequences will vary if you mess up the incantation. While our... unique magecraft provides immunity towards these consequences. It does not include others."》 Erebus explained.
Beatrice looked confused. There are consequences for using curses? She knew that there was a difference in power and complexity between her world's curse arts and her contractors' world. Her world's curse arts are a subcategory of spiritual and magical arts. The most notable traits about the curse arts are that they can not be defended against once activated, and they are the most effective class of magic when it comes to killing. However, physical contract between the caster and target is necessary for curses to work. Furthermore, unlike other normal magic, Curses are only limited to taking lives and have no other application in society beyond that. But from her contractors own words, the curse arts are sadly not a focus in both his world and her world, resulting in the curse arts being underdeveloped. However, her world seems to be even more underdeveloped.
"What do you mean, I wonder?" She asked, confused and curious.
Erebus realised that Beatrice didn't understand, so he explained in greater detail. 《"As you know, all spells need an equivalent exchange is someway to actualize. Spells such as a standard Minya need a lot of magical energy to use, while a Goa only needs half of that. Curses, while they can be strengthened by using magical energy, don't actually use magical energy to function. They use the suffering of the living, the negative emotions of the people, and the misfortune of others to function. If I were to use a fire curse powerful enough to cancel Roswaal's Al Goa, then it would begin having a consequence build itself up before materialising either instantly or at a later date. If you mess up the actualization of the curse, then the curse would not only blow up in your face but also unleash a powerful consequence on the caster and the surrounding area. A curse is the manipulation of fate, destiny, and luck to actualize a phenomenon that will bring the end of a target with a variety of consequences coming along and having a chance to materialise out of nowhere."》 After Erebus finished explaining, he awaited Beatrice's response.
"Betty thinks she understand, I suppose. Mother once spoke of the Witch of Wrath's authority to heal any and all wounds on physical contact, but due to using masses of mana from the atmosphere to perform the healing, natural disasters came whenever Od Laguna started to refill the void of mana."
《"... Yes, you understand most of it."》 Erebus said outwardly while inwardly gaped. 《'She could do what!?'》 / {Is that even allowed!} Both Erebus and Subaru screamed.
After the shock quickly disappeared, Erebus realised that Subaru was back. Their eyes went from inhuman crimson to silver as they switched control.
《{How did the spell creation go?}》 Erebus asked.
{It went alright. There is something I have to tell you. Something that you will enjoy.} Subaru evilly smirked with a glimmer of mischief in his eyes.
《"Ohh really now? Now you have to tell me."》 Erebus responded withana evil smirk of his own.
Beatrice noticed the change of eye color and realised that Subaru was now in control. But she also very quickly noticed the very scary and evil glint in his eyes. It got worse when he started to giggle creepily.
"What is with that scary expression, I wonder?" Beatrice asked with hesitation and worry. Something about that smirk got all her hair rise. What Beatrice didn't know and what neither Subaru nor Erebus would admit when asked was that Zelretch had not only rubbed off on them but also corrupted them with his insane love for chaos.
Both of them once caused such chaos that once it was stopped, it became known as the cursed month of madness. Subaru and Erebus were also given a few names. Names that brought forth a chill every time it was spoken. Names cause both headache and trauma to resurface whenever it is spoken. Magus of Rupture, Warlock of Chaos, Cursed Craftsman, and Spiritual and Devilish Successor of the Kaleidoscope.
"Ohhhh, my dear Beatrice. I have just discovered that this world isn't in the equivalent of my world's age of gods, but the age of mystery." Subaru said ecstatic.
"T-this is good why, I wonder?" She asked, worried. His creepy giggling transformed into a creepy laughter.
"Oh yes! While curses are our speciality, we are also capable of using other types of magecraft, such as jewel magecraft. Due to our beilef of this world being in the age of gods, we believed that Roswaal would be able to counterract all magecraft we threw at him. But now?" He put his hands together, rubbing them evilly, making him look even creepier.
"N-no-now?" Beatrice asked, very concerned and disturbed. She yelped when Subaru suddenly grabbed onto her shoulder, a mad grin on his face.
"Now! He will taste Pseudo-Edelsteine!" He answered ecstatic. He let go of her, walked towards a desk with a box on top of it. He aggressively opened the box, revealing a large variety of jewels, ready for use. Then it happened. He started laughing. "Haha... hahahahah... MUHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!" But the laugh quickly developed into a Gilga-laugh. A Gilga-laugh so impressive that even the ghost of Gilgamesh would nod in approval.
Beatrice gulped down the rest of her tea, desperately trying to ignore the terrible feelings that were growing. She started to wonder if she made the right choice to pick Subaru and Erebus as her contractors.
"Beatrice!!!" Subaru suddenly appeared in her face.
"Ahhhhh! um, yes?" Beatrice asked, startled.
"For us to succeed with this GLORIOUS idea, I need you to take everyone away from the mansion and it's surroundings, so that we can go all out with our curses. Can you do that!?" He asked, crazed.
"Yes, I suppose!" She responded quickly.
"Good girl. I most definitely made the right choice choosing to add you to the family. And..." In response, she was given a headpat and a thousand different compliments.
'No, this was definitely the right choice, I fact!' Beatrice thought blissfully as she melted into his hand and sweet words.
~~~
'Something is wrong.' Rem thought as she walked through the corridor together with her sister towards the cultist's room.
The mood at the breakfast table had been less than stellar. While Roswaal-sama was his usual self, it couldn't be said the same for lady Emilia, Puck-sama, Beatrice-sama, and the cultist. The most noticeable thing was that Lady Emilia's eyes had gone red. She had looked like she had been crying rivers and could barely bring herself to eat anything, all while sending glances towards the cultist. Puck-sama looked at the cultist like he wanted to kill him. The cultist, at times, returned the great spirit's glare with an innocent smile, which just intensified the spirit's glare. Beatrice sama looked relaxed, more happy, like a great weight had left her. She was also, surprisingly, to everyone shocked, openly having a conversation with the cultist about a variety of materials that could be used for creating metias with different abilities. Rem had to stop herself from scoffing. There was no chance that a witch cultist would have the arcane wisdom to be able to create metias. They are just monsters in human shape that need to be wiped out. The cultist was the one whose behaviour was the strangest. Mid bite or sentence, he would look away to hide a barely restrained smirk, which would cause Beatrice-sama to look at him with worry and exasperated. She also noticed that his golden eyes had changed into silver, but she didn't think of special about it. However, her sister pointed out that he could have magic eyes. After all, if Roswaal-sama can have his own magic eye, there can also be a chance that someone else can possess them. Truly, her sister is so amazing and knowledgeable.
"Rem, we need to do this quick and quiet. We can not risk Emilia-sama being awakened by us. She... is too kind when it comes to the guest." Ram said to her.
She nodded in understanding, recalling what her sister had told her earlier. Her sister had gone and asked Emilia-sama if something was wrong and if they could be of service. The conversation led her sister to view the guest as a threat to the mansion. It seems like the cultist had successfully managed to trick Emilia-sama with his lies. The reason why Emilia-sama had cried was due to the cultist insulting her. While Emilia-sama argued that he had every right to do that after she had been unable to stop Puck-sama from insulting the cultist's parents' good name. Rem couldn't stop herself from scoffing at the idea of a witch cultist being related to good people. Her thoughts were put on hold when she heard a voice.
"Schließung. Verfahren Drei." She suddenly felt that something had changed in the air. She didn't know what, but it didn't feel right. Then she heard footsteps in front of her, someone was approaching them from the dark corridor. She already knew who it was due to smelling the miasma. But once the figure entered the moonlight, his appearance was revealed. He looked the same as during breakfast, but this time, he had a sword sheathed to his waist. She equip her morning star as Ram pulled out her wand.
"Good evening, ladies. Quite the lovely night we are having." He wore a lazy smile, and his tone was calm, nonchalant even, like this was just a usual day for him. "Now I don't want sound rude or blunt, but I have a request that only you two can help me with."
"What kind of request would that be, guest-sama?" Ram asked coldly, magical energy starting to be poured into her wand.
His smile turned empty, and his nasty eyes turned cold. "Stand down or suffer." He commanded, as a patterned neon light travelled up his body.
"Never to you, witch cultist!" Rem leap towards him, swinging her morning star at full force towards him.
~~~
(3rd person pov)
《{Perfect! Living test subjects to test our new spells on.}》 Erebus said amused as Subaru sidestepped the blunt sphere coming towards him at high speed. He countered by grabbing onto the chain of the mourning star and building up magical energy.
"Arc's Thunder." Electricity burst out of Subaru's hands and quickly travelled up the chain towards Rem, electrocuting her.
"Gaaahh!" Rem screamed as she was stunned.
{I know, right? What are the chances of that happening?} Subaru responded equally amused.
"Sister!" Ram called out before aiming her wand at us. "El Fura!"
A blade of wind, travelling at maximum velocity, came flying Subaru's way. Letting his right hand go of the chain, he lifted and aimed it towards the blade of wind. "Distorted Axis." The trajectory of the flying flying blade of wind quickly flew off course.
"Raawh!" Rem pulled on the chain of the mourning star with enough force to pull Subaru with it.
《{Her physical strength would have been impressive if we didn't know that she is a phantasmal beast.}》 Erebus commented.
Rem got ready to deliver a powerful punch at us.
"Chaa!" When he got in close enough, she struck. She would have hit him if Subaru hadn't used Innate axis control, which allowed him to change his trajectory in air slightly to the right. He grabbed onto her arm, and by using his momentum, he pulled and swung her over his head, transferring his momentum to her, and threw her to the ground, hard. Once he touched the ground, Subaru delivered a punch at her stomach, pouring the necessary magical energy into his fist and began chanting.
"Binde und halte meine Feinde, Ketten der Erde.(Bind and hold my enemies, chains of the earth.)" The earth around Rem was manipulated into chains bound all her body parts which allowed for movement.
{I agree. Her physical abilities would have been more impressive if she were human, but what about her sister's abilities.} He turned his sight towards Ram, who looked furious.
"Fura!" Ram chanted. Subaru saw wind slashes heading his way. It made an impact, but the Warlock's Magic Resistance nullified the slashes. Ram was stunned seeing her spell disperse like it was nothing. Not giving her any time to recover, Erebus temporarily took control and quickly gathered earth mana into his leg. He then stomped and...
《"Terect."》... a multitude of rocks were sent flying from the ground, flying towards Ram.
"Ul Fura!" Ram had no time to dodge so thinking fast she use Ul Fura and rewrote the air around her in a instant, transforming the air infront of her into a barrier made out of blades of wind which turned the rocks into small harmless pieces.
"I have to say I'm impressed by your quick response. You had around 2 seconds to react to the spell, and if you had failed, most of your bones would have been broken. However, what impressed me was HOW you responded. You realised that it was pointless to try and dodge the attacks. Instead, you choose to use an OFFENSIVE Ul rank spell, knowing that its power and traits were what you needed. You then shaped the wind blades into a barrier that would slash the rocks into pieces. You did all that in a matter of 2 seconds." Subaru said and summarised, with an impressed tone. He wasn't lying, both him and Erebus were seriously impressed by her. They knew that the Oni were a warrior race, so they would naturally possess a greater affinity for battle related situations, but this? This wasn't it. No, this was pure talent. Ram is most likely one of those few rough diamonds found amongst a pile of coal that tends to appear every generation. A diamond with a calm, collective, and quick thinking of an experienced veteran. Also known as Mind's Eye(Fake). It is the natural talent to foresee and avoid danger on the basis of an innate 6th sense, intuition, or prescience. From what I saw and can speculate, Ram's Mind’s eye is quite high, meaning that she is now danger number 2 in the mansion.
《{I would have agreed with you, but after that, Ul Fura, her melody has weakened expensively, which is normal, but what isn't normal is the fact that her od isn't recovering... like at all.}》 Erebus pointed out.
The moment Rem and Ram made themselves ready for the fight, we learned two things. Rem is alright, and Ram is terrifying. Rem's magical melody sounds like a strong but gentle drizzle falling down and impacting a pond of water, disturbing the stillness. It was... kinda nice. Ram's magical melody is a soap opera. It almost made me go deaf. It felt like standing right in front of a powerful and raging hurricane. It is ridiculous how powerful she felt. It reminded him of Rider, also known as the Celtic God of the Sea, Manannán. He had to stop himself from physically shuddering when a memory of Rider conjured and hurled a literal ocean at them and Gilgamesh. Back to the subject of hand, he realised that after Ram used Ul Fura, her melody had changed. The hurricane had greatly dwindled and dispersed into a great wind. After hearing Erebus comment, I realised that he was right. The great wind didn't grow. It remained great and threatening. It somewhat reminded me of a wounded animal.
Erebus meanwhile felt a strange feeling of familiarity. He first believed that it was PRIDE's memories acting up, but... something told him that wasn't it. Unknown to Subaru, he also compared Ram to Manannán and was also rudely reminded by the Sea God's flex of power, but unlike Subaru, Erebus could shudder After repressing that memory, he realised something about Ram's melody. Something-... no, multiple things was missing. Things that was crucial to her, some things that had made her fragmented, but he couldn't understand what. It didn't help that it felt like he knew exactly what she was missing. Ignoring the strange feeling, he spoke up.
《{I think that she is unable to use her full power. I don't know what, but she is missing something important. We have the upper hand.}》 Erebus notified Subaru.
I smiled at Ram, who simply narrowed at me. "You are truly gifted, Ram." Subaru complimented her. However, he quickly lost his smile when he felt Rem's magical energy grow in power. He jumped back as the bindings held her shattered. In the center of her head was small but shining horn, gleaming with power.
"And then we have you." He said, unimpressed. "The hot-headed younger sister."
"El Huma!" She roared at him. A multitude of ice spears formed from her hands and was shot towards him.
"El Goa." He responded with an equal multitude of fire blazes was sent from hiz hand. When the equally powerful and opposite elemental spells collided, a large amount of steam was produced.
Both Rem and Ram were blinded by the mist, but Subaru used Sphere Boundary to hide his presence for a moment. However, he knew that he didn't have a very long time before they attacked him. Rem's ability to smell the witch miasma was troublesome, and now that she was more primal, feral, she would instinctively act on what her instincts gave her. Ram might decide to use a wind spell to clear the steam, or she might play smart and save her energy to act as back-up for her sister's more adapted instincts. The chances of her choosing to do the former were equally as big of a chance of her choosing to do the latter. He couldn't use his Mystic Eyes either, due to the steam clouding his sight, meaning he had to trust his luck, which was never a good idea, so he had to act quickly. Subaru started gathering the wind mana to use Voluptas while Erebus tried to reduce our miasma outleak. However, it was a waste of time, Rem had already locked onto his scent. Feeling danger, Subaru rolled to the side as a morning star came soaring towards him with a wind slash supporting as a follow-up attack. When he regained his balance, he had enough wind mana to cast Voluptas and took the chance.
"Voluptas." He muttered silently. The steam in the air gathers around him. The moist heat surrounding Subaru became intense. Rem and Ram prepared themselves for a powerful attack as magical energy began to become intense. He narrowed his glowing silver eyes.
《{...wait.}》 Erebus said as he realised something.
He aimed,
《{O-oy Subaru.}》 He studded while trying to catch Subaru's attention.
they tensed,
《{No like seriously Subaru stop.}》 Erebus spoke higher.
The water mana concentrated,
《{Oy Baka-baru stop! you don't have...}》 Erebus finally realised that it wasn't working, so he screamed. However, it was already too late.
He spoke... "Ul Huma." ... and two massive ice pillars were summoned from the ground, aimed towards Rem and Ram... is what he would want to happen. Instead, two small melted pillars of slush rose pathetically.
《{low... enough... temperatures.}》 Erebus trail off as he failed to stop Subaru.
The corridor went silent as tension in the air was replaced by awkwardness. For a moment, Rem's primal disgust for the witch cultist was replaced with pity. She can only imagine the embarrassment of messing up a spell mid-battle. Ram could barely keep herself from snorting at the cultist's poor excuse of Ul Huma. Subaru stood there, frozen in place, by pure embarrassment. Humiliating memories of his younger years came back to hunt him. Memories of him embarrassingly messing up water spells and producing pathetic results.
"Um... Rem thinks that spell-" Rem spoke up in a, unnatural, attempted to cheer Subaru up.
"Please don't." But he cut her off with a red face.
"Gue-s-st-sa- *snort*." Ram attempted to say something but struggled to restrain her laughter.
"Don't. You. DARE." He threatened her with a glare, which only caused her to lose control over her laughter.
'Okay, that's it. I am sooo gonna curse her with cursed nightmares for a week.' He decided with extreme pettiness.
《{You complete moron.}》
'Shit.' Subaru grimaced before getting himself in check. {...Whoops-y daisy.} He said with cheek.
《{You forgot to cool down the steam.}》 Erebus said stunned over the stupidity
Everyone makes a mistake...} Subaru poorly defended himself.
《{It is the most basic logical fact. Heat does not go well with low temperatures. How did you manage to forget something so simple as that!?}》 Erebus voice rose as his shock transformed into bewilderment.
{Unless you use the right mysteries...} Subaru said, not in to defend himself, just to state a fact. Erebus ignored him and continued glaring at him.
《{Yet you somehow managed to forget. You literally only had one job!}》 Erebus screamed at me.
{I did half of it! What did you do!?} I argued and deflected back.
《{Tried and warn you!}》 Erebus said the truth.
{Then you should have warned me harder!} However, not willing to admit his fault, he, still petty, put the blame on Erebus.
Before they could begin an argument, they felt danger and noticed Rem's magical energy fluctuating.
"Ul Huma!" massive ice pillars were summoned from the ground, destroying the corridor. Luckily, Subaru managed to teleport ourselves outdoors to the garden. They both looked at the damage caused by an Ul spell and were flabbergasted with the result.
"Hey Erebus." Subaru called out, not realising that he was using his voice. "What do you think? Does Ul Huma qualify as a Three-Count spell or a Five-Count spell?" He asked, still stunned by the result.
《{I think Five-Count. However, I have no idea if the result is dependent on the caster's affinity, skill, and mastery over the spell or not.}》 He answered with speculation before remembering something. 《{Oh, and that's how you properly do it.}》
"Shut up. Like you could do any better." Subaru snark at him. The ice pillars disappeared, and the maids stepped out of the broken corridor.
The Oni maids were, at this point, very annoyed. They were confused about how the witch cultist survived an Ul Huma at point blank range. Ram speculated that it was some kind of yin spell, and if the speculation were true, then she began to feel worried. If Roswaal-sama, Lugunica's court mage and arguably the strongest mage recorded in history, couldn't use a teleportation spell, yet this cultist could, then she wondered what else he could do. Rem meanwhile was angry. She wanted the witch cultist dead but not before making it know pain. She would not let them hurt her sister ever again. The twins walked towards him, and as he rose to stand, they noticed something was different about him. His once silver eyes had changed into inhuman crimson.
《{Oh I thought that you would never ask. Allow me to show you how it is done.}》 Erebus said with an arrogant smirk.
~~~
Part one of chapter 12 is finally done!
I thank all of you for your patience. I feel frustrated with myself that it takes so long for me to write a chapter, and the fact that all of you are so patient with me warms my heart. I recently lost a family member and haven't had the motivation to write because of that. I will take a break for a few weeks to process my loss before I begin writing the next chapter. About the chapter, as you all can see, this chapter is referred to as part 1. I plan to make this fight into a 3 part chapter. It might become a 2 parter. After that, I will begin the final part of arc 2, the mabeast incident.
Oh, I hope that you like the spells I've come up with. Well, most of them are borrowed from some shonen anime and manga, which I have seen and read. I have made some originals that fit in with both the rules of the natsuverse and the re:zeroverse. And the thing about his void element being incompatible with re:zero magic. Well I realised that if Subaru and Erebus's could merge ether with any of the Re:zero magic at the start of the story then he would have become too powerful for the first few arcs, which would not be any fun.
But anyways I see you all next chapter! Bye!
~~~
Saber: Musashi Miyamoto
Archer: ???
Lancer: Enkidu
Rider: Manannán
Assassin: Assassin Of Pride/Natsuki Subaru
Caster: Gilgamesh of Uruk
Beserker: Lancelot
Avenger: ???